With this show’s relentless pacing, Xylo and company earn themselves a brief reprieve, but it’s only long enough to put all the moving pieces in their right place. In other words, we get a quick debrief, meet a couple of new faces, then before you know it, blood and guts start flying again. This helps keep the majority of viewers at the end of their seats, but I do wonder if our characters will have much depth to them by the end of the first season (this series’ll obviously get a sequel). All we really have so far is that Xylo operates like a typical anime protagonist: willing to sacrifice it all just to be heroic. He’s a bit older looking than your average anime lead, so he’s also a bit more jaded. But there’s nothing here that defies expectations. In seven episodes, I would’ve liked a bit more substance to the cast. But there’s little time for self-reflection when you’re constantly jumping from one Demon Lord to the next.
Alright, so what’s the big, new baddie that we need to take down this time? Well, we have two to worry about. According to Kivia, a bunch of folks have left the Church because they are “refusing to accept this new goddess.” That would be fine if we could just leave it at that. But no, these people also want to kill Teoritta simply because they don’t accept her. I feel like I’m missing something. How do you go from “I won’t worship her” to “we literally gotta kill her!” With the Demon Blight slowly eating away at humanity, don’t these people have better things to do? Mind you, this is a wholly different faction from the “Coexisters.” Those weirdos at least have a reason to get rid of the goddesses. On the other hand, I don’t understand what’s motivating these religious assassins, especially when Teoritta has more than proven her worth. She has several big kills under her belt in a short span of time. Even if you don’t like her, isn’t she a useful piece to keep on the board? What is so offensive about her existence? Why does she need to die?
As for the second threat, it’s still those damn “Coexisters” and the Demon Lords who lead them. More specifically, we have Shiji Bau, a female adventurer who apparently has more hits under her belt than Tsav, and Boojum, a “man” who is so obviously a Demon Lord in disguise. Just look at the way he can contort his limbs. He can even survive being burnt to a crisp. There’s also the fact that he constantly praises Shiji Bau for giving him pointers on how to act “normal.” As you can see, Sentenced to Be a Hero is hardly one for subtlety. The story doesn’t even let us wonder whether or not we’re up against a demon in disguise. Nope, they finger the perp immediately. It’s him, it’s him, he’s the baddie in disguise! Look how uncanny he is! All three of the previous Demon Lords have been big, hulking monstrosities. So the fact that Boojum is human-sized already makes him a nice change of pace. But I felt like they could’ve done more with the human mimic idea. Boojum could literally be anybody, making our heroes question who they can trust. Ah well.
Stray thoughts & observations:
— Like I mentioned up top, we have a couple of new faces for the good guys. First, we have this red, spiky-haired individual. His name is Jayce, and he’s a dragoon with a rather huge fondness for dragons. I’m getting not-so-wholesome vibes between him and Neely. I hope I’m wrong on that. It’s just so easy to be cynical when anime is full of fetishists. Anyways, so why was Jayce sentenced to be a hero? ‘Cause he wanted to free the dragons from the military. It was deemed an insurrection, and yeah, those usually get punished pretty harshly. Not in our day and age, though!
— Next, we meet Franci, the woman who so kindly lent her men to Xylo’s cause in his suicidal defense against Iblis. But is he grateful for her help? Of course not. Why? Because she’s his former fiancee. No “former” in her eyes, though. She still wants them to get married, and in order to do so, she’s working hard to get him a pardon. Nevertheless, Xylo remains cold and impersonal in front of the woman. It makes you wonder if their engagement was even mutual to begin with. But with this show the way that it is — with its relentless pacing — we don’t get a chance to delve too deeply into any of these relationships. Not yet and potentially maybe never. And this is because Franci is the one who has to tell Xylo all about the human-shaped Demon Lord lurking within the city, and how she will stop at nothing to flush out the monster.
— Teoritta was jealous of Kivia for simply going on a scouting mission with Xylo, so naturally, she makes a scene in front of Franci. Eh, I’m hoping that her mini-tantrum is more along the lines of “I’m a spoiled child who needs all of your attention” and less “No other woman can have Xylo!”
— When Kivia claims that she’s only monitoring Xylo because it’s her job, Franci says, “I advise you to come up with a better excuse next time.” I think we know what Franci is hinting at. I mean, I’m not surprised that a male anime lead is magically popular with all the ladies, but I’m not amused either.
— Kivia also really, really likes Teoritta, though. So at least there’s that.
— Xylo gets Teoritta an ornate-looking dagger during their sightseeing trip. Odds on her using it to save him against Boojum?
— I’m gonna need a second opinion on this.
— Kivia finally showing off the holy part of her holy knight status.
